Research Methodology

Research methodology I: From topic to proposal

PhD-course

Mansholt Graduate School and CERES Graduate School

Dates: expected mid February 2007

“The project proposal appeared so clear but now I do not know where to start”, “I do not know what my research could add to clarify this issue. It is so obvious, what the outcome is going to be. ”, “Really, everything in my project is so important and interesting. I guess I need some help to learn how to focus.”

Do you recognize any of the above citations? Then this is a course for you! Also, when you have little idea what aspects of methodology could be important to your project, then this course is of interest for you too!

Aim of this course:

The general aim of this course is to give you insight in the process of (getting started with) research and the methodology pitfalls you may encounter between formulating a research problem and writing a scientific paper. This course addresses methodology issues of importance to quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods strategies.

By the end of this course you will be able to

- formulate research questions, and to decide on the appropriateness of hypotheses

- make an informed choice between a number of study designs

- review pro’s and con’s of several data collection methods

- decide on a sampling strategy suitable for your research

In this course we will go through the steps from formulating a research problem to writing a research proposal and writing a research report. You work on your own project by means of assignments. By the end of this course you will have developped a (skelaton) research proposal or a paper proposal, depending on your entrance level and elaborateness of the PhD proposal.

Topics in the course are:

Literature:

Ranjit Kumar (2005). Research methodology(2^nd ed). London, Thousands Oaks, New Delhi: Sage publications Ltd. ISBN 141291194X.

Meetings

1. An introduction to the course and each other; What makes research scientific, research as a process

2. Formulating a research question; from topic to research question, concepts and variables, constructing hypotheses

3. Study designs; designs based on the number of contacts, designs based on the reference period and other commonly used study designs

4. Data collection; primary and secondary sources, observations, interviews, questionnaires, validity and reliability of research instruments, ethical issues in data collection

5. Sampling; principles of sampling, random and non-random sampling strategies, case selection.

6. Putting it all into perspective; Writing;

7. Grand finale - Discussion of particular projects and issues (entered by students)

Schedule:

week 1 meeting 1 and 2

week 2 individual work on assignments and their assessment by lectuer

week 3 meeting 3 and 4

week 5 meeting 5 and 6

week 7: meeting 7

Time involved:

Seven meetings of 3 hours each.

Three assignments estimated between 4 and 10 hours each.

Reading of book chapter 1-9, 11-14, 17

Total 6 ECTS.